Classes begin August 23, 2021

Fall semester begins on Monday, August 23, 2021. Registration is underway:

16-week | Aug. 23

14-week | Sept. 7

12-week | Sept. 17

Second eight-week | Oct. 18

Summer Hours end after August 13, 2021

Summer hours will run through Friday, August 13, 2021.

For those year-round, full-time employees, the last day for summer hours is August 13, 2021. The college will resume its general hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday on August 16. The Communications team will be updating the general information page to reflect this change. Regular hours are as followed:

• 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

• Lunch breaks will go back to 1 hour (paid)

• If you plan to use any leave (vacation, personal, holiday, or sick), you will now submit a leave request for 8 hours for each day used.

FREE Book Vouchers for Students:

PSC students who register for fall classes have the opportunity to receive a free voucher for up to $200 towards your textbooks this fall.

Here's how students can retrieve a voucher:

• Register for fall classes.

• Take your schedule to the Business Office on the main campus and ask about our book vouchers.

• Take the voucher to the Barnes and Noble College Bookstore on the main campus and use it towards your textbooks.

Vouchers are valued at up to $200 and can only be used towards textbooks. Books must be purchased inside the bookstore: no online orders and no cash value.

For more student resources, visit https://prairiestate.edu/student-life/index.aspx.

Reminder to Update Voicemail Messages and Email Signatures:

For those who are back on campus full time, please remember to change your voicemail and email signatures to reflect that the college is now open.

Secretary of State Update:

Our glorious weather dovetails with the successful deployment of our Secretary of State DMV. Primarily due to the efforts of our Campus Police and Facilities, the SOS has been a success. Thousands have come onto campus who may not otherwise have visited and viewed our promotional videos upon entering the DMV.

The Campus Police officers are adept with expected safety and security protocols and customer service, as we have seen throughout the pandemic. Their approach to patrons is clear, concise, and caring.

With the DMV, Campus Police are asked to extend their coverage into support for the SOS operations and their patrons on campus. Campus Police do this with a positive, attentive attitude. As I mentioned to Officer Cansino, after hearing his and other officers’ guidance to patrons as they roll up to the DMV each morning: you give outstanding customer service.

Because of our Police and Facilities and Grounds, people love the DMV service on campus and often congregate on-site during the nice weather as family members wait and kids play. Many residents have never been on campus and are impressed with the grounds, buildings, and the DMV service at this location. I’m not sure how long the Secretary of State will stay as their refurbished location is renovated.

Solar Project:

Our solar project will restart after a long hiatus. We are committed to enabling a renewable energy future at PSC and training students to qualify for green jobs in the south suburbs. Solar installer jobs are good-paying, fast-growing, and do not require a four-year degree. The college's rooftop solar array will turn PSC into a living laboratory for students enrolled in our new renewable energy courses. This academic program will provide students with the hands-on knowledge required by solar employers. Administratively, solar will provide $25k annually in energy savings.

Students seeking a certificate or associate degree in solar photovoltaics (in the Industrial Electrician program) will have access to the array and its production data to understand the realities of solar, including optimal weather conditions, peak production hours, and months, optimal installation angle, effects of shading, etc. Along with the large rooftop array, the developer will provide a remote monitoring system and install a small, ground-level demonstration array to give students hands-on experience installing, wiring, and experimenting with solar panels.

Fire Science Program

Professor Chad Vliestra and Dean Megan Hughes have developed a dynamically growing firefighter training program. Diverse cohorts of students are recruited from fire districts across the south suburbs. This program resides hand-in-hand with the Emergency Medical Technician program, one of our highest enrolled certificates. We are moving to renovate the MAC for use by Fire Science and EMT, possibly criminal justice and a police academy. There is no local police academy. Our local police recruits go downstate, the Chicago Police Academy or College of DuPage, and those spots are filled quickly.

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Nature Preserve

The Nature Preserve Trail will significantly improve accessibility to Prairie State College's Nature Preserve, allowing more people to benefit and learn from this natural asset. The new trail will be ADA-accessible and will not be susceptible to muddy conditions after it rains. The bridge from parking lot A to the trail helps the campus community access the Nature Preserve more directly while avoiding dangerous car-dominated routes. Colocating the trailhead with the existing outdoor exercise apparatus makes this ideal for a full-body workout with strength training on the equipment and the half-mile loop for cardio on the trail. Also, We are renewing our agreement with the University of IL agricultural extension to develop urban agriculture in the south suburbs.

A warm and grateful thank you to our Sustainability Coordinator, Joel Nightingale. Joel took us boundless steps toward a sustainable campus, and curriculum. Joel leads the Nature Preserve sustainable development, the solar installation and our Sustainability committee. Joel is heading “home” to Olympia, WA to pursue a career with the local public utility. We wish you the best, Joel!

Enrollment Guide:

The 2021 Fall Enrollment Guide is available online and will be mailed to every household and business in the PSC district. The Enrollment Guides also will be available in the designated racks around campus.

WGCI Radio Spot:

An ad was placed with WGCI to promote fall registration including information about our Lake County Discount.

Bus Shelters Advertising:

You may have noticed our new bus shelters on your commute to campus. The fall shelters feature our very own Deneen Brackett, Jennica Rodriguez and Carmen Dover.

Fall 2021 Scholarship Update

Scholarship applications for fall opened on July 19, and reviews began on July 26. The first awards of the semester are valued at $19,774 and were submitted to Financial Aid on August 5 and included:

• Tuition scholarships in the amount of $12,796 for 26 students

• Book scholarships in the amount of $3,093 for ten students

• 28 books valued at $3,665 were loaned to 19 students as part of the BookSHARE program

• Four new books were purchased by the Foundation to add to the BookSHARE program in the amount of $220 and loaned to 2 students

Summer 2021 Scholarship Update

The summer 2021 scholarship application opened on Monday, April 19, and closed on June 3. In total, 109 applications were attempted and 77 were successfully submitted. All applications were reviewed and:

• 64 applicants were offered tuition and textbook awards

• 13 applicants were not eligible for awards (funded / high EFC)

Of the reviewed applications, $16,631.50 was offered in tuition awards. The Foundation spent $6,310.89 at the PSC Barnes & Noble Bookstore for textbooks, and 42 textbooks valued at $5,469.22 were loaned to students as part of the BookSHARE program.

Other items of interest from the summer applications:

• 3.35 was the average GPA of qualified applicants (SP21 was 3.15)

• 77% of reviewed applicants were female, 21% were male, and 2% did not identify

• 45% of reviewed applicants were Black, 20% Latinx, 29% White, 6% other/did not identify

• 52% of submitted applicants were first-generation college students

• 42% of submitted applicants had a $0 EFC, or no EFC reported

• 61% of submitted applicants requested textbook assistance (Note: Due to pandemic/remote learning, some classes use free online resources.)

Scholarship Classic Golf Outing

The Foundation’s annual golf outing held on Monday, June 7, at Idlewild Country Club was a great success and had a net profit of approximately $13,000. Special thanks to PSC employees who attended the outing as golfers, reception attendees, or made donations to the event.

Help welcome our newest employees to the team!

Francesca Ryan, Support Service Generalist

Francesca has joined the Institutional Support Services team as a Support Services Generalist, handling an array of document production projects, both small and large, and supporting the Mailroom and Duplication teams as needed. Francesca comes to Prairie State with over 30 years of experience in design and printing.

Contact Information:

Support Services, Office T-157

(708) 709-3619

fryan2@prairiestate.edu

Theresa Frachalla, Enterprise Application Analyst

With over 15 years of Higher Education and Colleague ERP experience, Theresa will be using her skillset to assist with the continued support and development of the Colleague and ERP applications we have here on campus.

Contact Information:

ITR, Office 1150 (708) 709-3711

tfrachalla@prairiestate.edu

Congratulations to Hattie Gipson, Student Success Center Receptionist, on her retirement from Prairie State College! Thank you for your many years of service.

Dr. Cynthia Cornejo discusses children returning to face-to-face classes in an article in the July/August edition of Chicago Parent Magazine, entitled How to Help Teens Deal with School Anxiety.

The Board of Trustees will hold it's regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. To view information from the Board of Trustees, including meeting agendas, minutes and audio recordings, visit Board Meetings.

The Presidential Search is underway. More information about the process here.